The international Renaissance Society of America gathered last week in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Three Truman State University Art History alumni and one faculty member were actively involved in conference proceedings. Prof. Jasmine Cloud, a Ph.D. candidate at Temple University, presented a paper entitled "Reviving the Heart (of the City): The Renovation of the Churches on the Roman Forum", Dr. Ryan Gregg (Webster University) presented a paper entitled "Vasari's Decorations for the Giovanni Delle Bande Nere Room in the Palazzo Vecchio", and Dr. John Garton (Clark University) organized two sessions entitled "Physiognomy, Disfigurement, and the Early Modern Grotesque", one of which was chaired by Dr. Julia DeLancey (Truman State University).
Art History
Internship in NYC!
Congratulations to senior Art History major Elmer Stunkel who just let us know that he was selected for an internship at the Dumbo Arts Center in Brooklyn!
Student docents in University Art Gallery
First-year Art History major Emily Hagen works with visiting middle and high school students in "The Workshop and the World". Emily also worked as a Curatorial Assistant for this exhibition.
This semester, as always, many Truman State University students have been active as volunteer docents in the University Art Gallery. Many are members of Art History Society, but the Gallery also has docents from Departments across campus; for example, a number of Communication Disorders majors and Disability Studies minors docented for the recent "4 Real 4 Faux" exhibition. Anyone interested in being trained as a Gallery docent should contact Prof. Aaron Fine, Gallery Director, at afine@truman.edu; in addition, anyone interested in arranging for a docent-led Gallery tour may also contact Prof. Fine.
First-year Art History major April Johnston shows printmaking equipment related to "The Workshop and the World" to middle and high school students.
Life-sized Egyptian Tomb Wall in Ophelia Parrish!
Dr. Sara Orel's Egyptian Art class set up a full-scale reproduction of a painted wall of an Egyptian Middle Kingdom tomb in the atrium of the art wing of Ophelia Parrish Hall. The scenes show Khnumhotep, a provincial governor of Beni Hasan about 4000 years ago, accepting offerings for the afterlife from his family and servants and hunting animals in the desert. One of the most famous scenes from his tomb shows foreigners (probably from the area of modern Israel and Palestine) wrapped in elaborately-patterned woolen clothes, a scene that is often reproduced to illustrate the biblical story of Joseph and his family settling in Egypt. The scene was painted in the original colours by some of the students in the class to illustrate the bright hues of the original tomb. Laura Wellington, of Fine Arts Publications, expanded the original 1893 line drawing (from Percy E. Newberry's Beni Hasan I, London) to the original size, approximately 33 feet long and 14 feet tall.
Gallery-o-rama
Lots of exciting events coming up in the University Art Gallery over the next week:
Thursday and Friday, February 16 & 17, Nancy Mizuno Elliott and Amy Auerbach will be on campus. Nancy Mizuno Elliott is finishing up her two-year term as the Truman Curatorial Fellow, and has done so by curating the wonderful exhibition "4 Real 4 Faux: Animating the Vernacular", currently on display in the Gallery. Amy Auerbach is Gallery Manager at Creativity Explored, the Bay Area arts organization from which much of the work in "4 Real 4 Faux" came. So, come to some of these great events:
- Thursday, February 16, 4:30 p.m., OP 2210
Panel Discussion with Nancy Mizuno Elliotto, Amy Auerbach, and Truman's Gallery Director Aaron Fine - Thursday, February 16, 6:00 p.m., University Art Gallery
Closing reception, "4 Real 4 Faux". Refreshments will be served. - Friday, February 17, 3:30 p.m., University Art Gallery
Gallery Talk with Nanzy Mizuno Elliott and Amy Auerbach
Congratulations, also, to the next Truman Curatorial Fellow, Brandelyn Dillway (Mt. San Jacinto College). She will be on campus early next week to jury the Student Juried Exhibition and will give a talk on Monday, February 21 at 6:00 p.m. in OP 2210.
National Travel Award to TSU Alumna
Congratulations to Art History alumna Jasmine Cloud who was recently awarded a travel grant by the national Italian Art Society. This organization which promotes the study of Italian art of all time periods awards two competitive travels grants to IAS members (doctoral candidates or recent PhDs) wishing to travel to an academic conference. The IAS announcement follows:
Jasmine Cloud is currently a doctoral student at Temple University. She will speak on the topic “Reviving the Heart (of the City): The Renovations of the Churches on the Roman Forum” in the Italian Art Society session “Rome Revitalized: A Reassessment,” at the Renaissance Society of America Conference in Montreal in March.
“4 Real 4 Faux: Animating the Vernacular” in the Gallery
In the main space in the University Art Gallery visitors can now visit "4 Real 4 Faux: Animating the Vernacular", an exhibition curated by Nancy Mizuno Elliott of work by self-taught artists, and by academically trained artists influenced by the work of self-taught artists. It features, in particular, artwork by artists in two San Francisco Bay Area organizations, Creativity Explored, and the National Arts and Disability Center. Prof. Mizuno Elliott won the Truman Curatorial Fellowship two years ago, and this exhibition is the culmination of her curatorial work at Truman State University. She will be on campus for the exhibition's closing reception (Thursday, February 17, 6:00 p.m., University Art Gallery)–check the Gallery blog for information on additional events happening during her visit. For more information on the Truman Curatorial Fellowship, please contact University Art Gallery director Prof. Aaron Fine at afine@truman.edu.
Renaissance Prints in the Gallery!
An exhibition of centuries-old artworks is currently on display in the University Art Gallery (Side Gallery) through February 18, 2011. The exhibition, The Workshop and the World: Renaissance Prints from Private Collections, features fifteen original artworks by some of the most influential printmakers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, including Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, and Hendrick Goltzius, as well as a seventeenth-century print by Rembrandt van Rijn. The exhibition also displays four examples of ekphrasis (a poem written in description of or in response to a work of art) written for the show by four Truman State University faculty poets; the poems have each then been hand-set and letter press printed by the Truman State University Art Department's Print Shop.
The works in the exhibition are selections on loan from two private collections from collectors with strong Truman State University connections. These include alumnus Dave Cole and his wife Lily; this is the second time that the Coles so generously loaned their work to Truman and to the Kirksville community and we are deeply grateful to all the collectors for these wonderful loans.
More information about the show, the works, and special events (including gallery talks, a poetry reading, and a prinmaking demonstration) may be found by visiting: http://tsugallery.org/workshop-the-world/.
Gallery Opening Tonight!
Tonight (Tuesday, January 18) at 6:00 p.m. the exhibition "The Workshop and the World: Renaissance Prints from Private Collections" will open. The reception will be the first chance to see this show of original artworks from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries–selections from private collections with strong Truman State University connections. Works on display incude prints by great printmakers such as Albrecht Dürer, Lucas Cranach, and Albrecht Altdorfer, as well as two pages from the Nuremberg Chronicle. In addition, the show includes a beautiful seventeenth-century etching and drypoint by Rembrandt van Rijn, as well as four examples of ekphrasis (a poem writting describing or in response to a work of art) written by Truman State University poets; these poems have been handset and letterpress printed by the Art Department's Print Shop.
More information about the exhibition and related events is available at http://tsugallery.org/workshop-the-world/.
Happy Holidays….!
The courtyard at the Victoria & Albert Museum at Christmastime
The Art Department blog will be taking a break until the new semester starts in early January. Until then, here are two pictures of the big snow storm and of the holiday season in London, sent by Dr. Sara Orel. Happy holidays to all!
Christmas tree outside St. Paul's cathedral